HSBC Bank

Like the Falmer HSBC, this place is very good as banks go. There are loads of free cash machines and it’s the most easily accessed place for free cash withdrawals on this end of the North Laine. There’s usually a queue for the counter, but never a long wait. And there’re always plenty of staff on hand in the week to help with whatever (new accounts, internet banking, loans…).

This large building is generally used by passers-​by seeking to withdrawer money from one of the many in-​store ATMs, however, as those of us who have ventured a little further inside in order to receive some sort of service will testify, the staff here are very professional and the waiting times generally aren’t arduous.

This is the HSBC bank, in the centre of Brighton, and so it has a fairly good Saturday morning service, as well as the usual ATMs outside. Its very big, and very busy, with its own dedicated foreign exchange cashier point. It also has a dedicated business cashier.
The foyer is huge — it needs to be, partly because there’s often a long queue for the internal ATMs (it goes down very quickly, there are four ATMs) and partly because there are so many functions on offer, there are a lot of people going to be to-​ing and fro-​ing in this branch at any one time.
The simple cashiers desks are right at the back of the banking hall, and the cashiers themselves are very friendly and happy — it feels like its a good place to work. There’s a good atmosphere here, even although its so busy.
For detailed enquiries, they have a really slick system going. Enquire for, say, business banking, at the Enquiry Desk, and they’ll take your name and address and get somebody to come to talk to you. So far, so normal; but you wait around a corner, down a corridor that I used to think was for staff only. There’s a proper waiting area there, sofas and magazines not hard chairs and bank leaflets. Very nice. I was only there 3 or 4 minutes and was then whisked up in the lift to speak in private a couple of floors above the banking hall itself, for as long as I needed, with a very knowledgeable advisor. This branch has been at this level of automation for a while, I’ve seen slightly more modern branches even in Burgess Hill, but their personnel systems are second to none. I was very impressed.